Recipes By Florence Fabricant
974 recipes found
Maitake au Poivre
Hold the steak. This vegetarian take on steak au poivre, from Manhattan’s Café Chelsea, boasts the same generous application of crushed black pepper, mellowed with cream, stock and a vibrant splash of Cognac, but calls for slabs of maitake mushroom instead of beef. To strut its meaty swagger, the dish is listed on Café Chelsea’s menu among the grilled choices (a grill pan or skillet works just as well) rather than being relegated to the vegetable section. The restaurant opts for large slices of maitake, but the recipe works with several smaller pieces as well. Though quick to assemble, it’s not easy to scale up, so think intimate dinner or Valentine’s Day.
Portobello Mushroom Milanese
Milan. The city’s name represents a recipe. You know it: a flattened, crisply breaded surfboard of veal or chicken that’s often big enough to cover the plate. Sometimes fish is called on. Or pork. Here, the technique is applied to large mushrooms, which are also flattened and then treated to the step-by-step of a dusting of flour to dry the surface, then an egg wash to grab the final coating of crumbs. (The same technique will also produce a schnitzel.) Marissa Lo, the executive chef at Boat House in Tiverton, R.I., was inspired to try the technique with big portobello caps after visiting Italy. Serve them dressed with a tangle of salad greens, or top with tomato sauce and melted cheese like a Parm. However you serve your Milanese, consider a platter of them for a holiday party.
Grilled Porgy With Lemons and Scallions
Porgy is a fish that takes beautifully to grilling whole, filled with aromatic ingredients. Here, Ayesha Nurdjaja, the chef of Shuka in New York City, stuffs the fish with lemon and herbs. When lightly charred, the skin of the fish becomes crispy and delicious. One way to guarantee that your fish will lift easily off the grill is to have clean, well-oiled grates, and if you're willing to sacrifice a couple of extra bunches of scallions, lay them on the grill, then put the fish on top. The scallions will burn away, but the fish will release. Fennel fronds work the same way. Ms. Nurdjaja tops the fish with a lightly-dressed arugula salad — but it’s just as delicious on its own.
Swordfish au Poivre
Au poivre, the peppery French finish for a steak, is simpler and more versatile than its fancy-sounding name suggests. A quick pan sauce of cream and Cognac enrobes a seared piece of meat fueled with crushed black or green peppercorns. But the preparation doesn’t have to be just for meat. At Veronika, a new restaurant in Manhattan that was attracting pre-pandemic attention, the English chef Robert Aikens used the seasoning and sauce to finish a thick fist of tender celeriac, with excellent results. Boneless chicken breasts are another choice. Here I opted for swordfish steaks, though you could use another densely textured slab of fish, like halibut, instead. But producing au poivre is strictly à la minute: Have your ingredients ready to apply so the wait time for serving is minimal. The recipe is easily reduced to serve two for that date-night dinner while sequestered at home with a good bottle of Burgundy to share.
Swordfish BLT
Here’s a summery take on grilled swordfish, dressed with the fixings for that ever-popular, all-American sandwich, the BLT. No, it's not a slice of grilled swordfish in a sandwich, though that might not be a bad idea in some other context. This dish is dinner-party fare, fresh off the grill. Bacon, arugula and tomatoes in a lemony dressing, bolstered with bacon fat, top and sauce the fish. As an added bonus, I’ve brushed some of the bacon fat on the fish before grilling. The BLT mixture can be assembled a couple of hours in advance, so the grilling is the only last-minute task. The finished dish has a bright, beautiful presentation that suits the season.
Salmon en Papillote (Salmon in Parchment)
Salmon cooked en papillote, which means wrapped in a packet of parchment (or foil), is a dramatic way to procure perfectly cooked salmon, but it isn’t difficult. Fold a fillet into a cut piece of parchment, and then layer it with seasonings or perhaps vegetables or citrus fruit. Then simply bake the packets until done. The steam created by the parchment produces reliably moist salmon, and opening the individual packets at the table makes for a fun way to start dinner.
Sandro Fioriti's Pasta Alla Gricia
Rye and Ginger Cake
This cake is a simple delight, a nice ending for a rich dinner or something to enhance teatime. It depends on ginger, the candied kind, though some ground ginger ramps up the cool spice flavor. The candied ginger, and also raisins, are macerated in whiskey — rye in this case, though bourbon, Scotch, or Irish or Japanese whiskey would be fine. And the whiskey contributes to a final glaze.
Apple Salad With Walnuts and Brussels Sprouts
Waldorf salad is definitely in the DNA of this starter from the Publican restaurant in Chicago. Apples and walnuts provide the base, and raw brussels sprouts and kohlrabi take the place of the celery. The dressing, a honeyed vinaigrette made with walnut oil, is lighter than mayonnaise, although the ricotta contributes creaminess. The cured ham on top elevates this to a sophisticated first course, but eliminate it to make the salad vegetarian. Best of all, the salad can be prepared in advance and holds up nicely on a buffet.
Mushroom Soup Gratinée
This hearty soup takes its cue from the classic soupe à l’oignon gratinée. I swapped out the onions for mushrooms and served the hearty soup paved with a layer of toast and cheese as a cold-weather first course. For an informal supper, it could be the main event, especially with additions like potatoes or other root vegetables, shredded cabbage, cooked lentils, buckwheat pasta or even chunks of duck confit, sausage or boneless short ribs or veal shank. As for the finishing glaze of cheese, I suggest Gruyère, though the Bitto of the region, a firm cow’s milk cheese made with a funky touch of goat milk, would be lovely if you can find it.
Four Seasons Oysters In Champagne Veloute
Sherried Lentil Soup With Sausage and Croutons
Bartenders' Simple Syrup
English Scones
Gnocchi With Spring Vegetables and Basil
This recipe was a happy accident. Justin Smiley, one of the chefs at Barbuto in the West Village of Manhattan, froze a batch of gnocchi. But the chef Jonathan Waxman needed some right away, so he threw the frozen gnocchi into a pan with butter and oil, browned them and tossed them with vegetables.
Beef Braised in Red Wine With Chinese Mushrooms
Murg Malai Kebab
While dining at the Tamarind Tribeca in Manhattan, I had a terrific kebab of tender, marinated chicken breast, zapped judiciously with spice. It was enough to give pause to all those, including me, who consider chicken breast a boring blank slate. The restaurant does not serve the chicken on skewers, as one might expect for a kebab. But I found that using them greatly simplified turning the chicken while it cooked.
Seafood in Stout
Red Velvet Cake
This is a cake to stop traffic. The layers are an improbable red that can vary from a fluorescent pink to a dark ruddy mahogany. The color, often enhanced by a full bottle of food coloring, becomes even more eye-catching set against clouds of snowy cream cheese-mascarpone frosting or ermine (also known as boiled-milk) frosting, like a slash of glossy lipstick framed by platinum blond curls. Even the name has a vampy allure: red velvet. These days this Southern favorite is found in just about every bakery, but perhaps for a special occasion (like the very red and white Valentine’s Day) you could try your hand at baking it.
Cream Cheese-Mascarpone Frosting
Cream cheese frosting has become the go-to topping for red velvet cake. Not only do the colors provide a feast of contrast for the eyes, the creamy richness of the icing perfectly complements the deep flavor of the cake. This version calls for freshly whipped cream, cream cheese and mascarpone, which makes an impossibly satiny and cloud-like frosting that is lighter, silkier and a bit less sweet than the plain old cream cheese sort. You're going to lick the spatula clean.
Shad With Morels
Chicken Tagine With Peppers and Chickpeas
Spice-Rubbed Lamb Skewers With Herb-Yogurt Sauce
